RCTC Loses Upward Bound Program

(ABC 6 NEWS) - Rochester Community and Technical College has lost funding for one of its long running programs.

Lily Medorio, a junior at Mayo High School has been a part of the Upward Bound program since she was a freshman in high school.

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The program began at RCTC in 1993. The main purpose was to ensure high school students had the skills necessary to succeed in college.

"So Upward Bound was a college prep program for low-income families for the three main high schools so Mayo, J.M and Century,” said Medorio.

It had been funded by the U.S Department of Education, but now after 23 years, the government decided against funding it this year.

Like most students at RCTC, Vice President of Student Affairs Michael Anthony has not been happy with the outcome. He said there was a lot of need across the country and Rochester didn’t make the threshold.

“It was no easy way to say it. It was something that was out of our control once the feds in the department made their decision with the Department of Education," said Anthony.

For students, it was more than a program.

Medorio said," It was like a family in that group so people were very close with each and so it was really hard but we all knew that we would still stay connected."

Officials said they are not sure when students will have a chance at the program again.

"It was a hard thing to see, it’s hard to lose a grant program that had such success and we want the families and the parents and the students to know, we will not give up on trying to get this program funded. It is bigger than Rochester and bigger than us so it was out of our control.

In an effort to help other students, Medorio has started a youth program called Academy Forward to help those who have lost their college prep program due to funding cuts.